Love Is An Open Door
by Bob The Other Zombie
Summary: Wherein Sirius keeps ordering weird things off of Ebay in James's name, and Lily is the delivery woman who brings them to his door.


It started when his doorbell rang one afternoon. James hurried to the door, unsure of who would be at his home right now, and opened it to reveal someone quite unexpected.

She was the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen- long wavy hair the color of a warm fire in winter, piercing green eyes that looked too bright to be real, and a dusting of freckles over pale skin.

James leaned against the doorframe, and grinned. "Hello, love, what can I do for you?"

"Package?" said the woman flatly.

James blinked- he hadn't expected her to be so forward. Then he noticed a few other things about her appearance, mainly that she was wearing a mailwoman's uniform and carrying a large package.

"Oh." he said. "Uh...I wasn't expecting anything."

"Are you James Potter?" the woman asked.

"Yes-"

"Is this your address?" She tilted the package towards him so he could read the label.

"Yes, but-"

"Then here is your Willy Warmer Knitted Sock, courtesy of Ebay."

If her tone hadn't been so irritated, he would've sworn there was a smile on her lips.

"I didn't order that!"

"Says right here, send to James Potter at this address. You purchased it off EBay." The woman set the package down and pulled out a clipboard. "If you could just sign-"

"No way, I didn't order- I would never-"

"Sir, I've got to get to hundreds of other people today, I can't fall behind." The woman thrusted her clipboard at him. "If you could please just sign right here."

James grumbled but did as she asked. As she put the clipboard away, the woman smirked. She picked up the box, handing it to him. "Enjoy your Willy Warmer Knitted Sock, sir."

"Oh, say it a little louder, why don't you?"

* * *

A few weeks later, James was just getting out of the shower when his doorbell rang again. He pulled on a pair of jeans, hurriedly buttoned up a shirt, and scrambled to the door, barefoot. When he opened it, he stopped, turning red.

The red haired mailwoman took in his disheveled appearance with a raise of her eyebrow. "Package?" she said.

"What? Oh, right." He sighed. "Give the clipboard here."

As he signed, the woman said, "I have to ask..."

"Please don't."

"Do you have a guinea pig or something? Is this animal cosplay?"

James looked up at her uncomprehendingly.

"Because of the guinea pig armor?" the woman said, lifting the box in her hands. "The package?"

"Oh, no." James shook his head "My friend Sirius ordered this, actually. And the Willy Warmer, by the way."

"Really."

"Yeah, apparently. Either he has an affinity for clothing small things and doesn't want people to know or he's just doing it as a joke. I'm afraid to ask."

The woman laughed, flashing her white teeth. "Hopefully he won't stop any time soon."

James raised his eyebrows."You don't want him to?"

"Why would I?" the woman said. "This is the most entertaining stop I'll make all day."

"Oh, I see." James smirked. "Here's your clipboard, then. I'll take the armor."

The woman lifted the package. "By the way, your shirt's buttoned wrong. And inside out."

"What?" James looked down, flushing- and indeed, his shirt was buttoned crooked by three buttons, and the seams were showing. He sighed and slipped the whole thing off.

James felt eyes on him as he rebuttoned it. He looked up. The delivery woman was openly staring at his chest, and when she realized she was caught, she turned redder than her hair.

James grinned, leaving several of the top buttons open, and reached for the package. "My guinea pig armor?" he asked.

"R-right." she said. James ensured their fingers brushed as she passed it over. She shakily nodded and began walking away.

"You know, I feel like I should know your name." he called.

The woman turned back. "Lily." she said. "Lily Evans."

James waved. "Nice to meet you, Lily Evans."

* * *

The next time, she knocked on his door in a vaguely familiar rhythm. James looked through the peephole, smiled when he realized who it was, and pulled it open. "Hello, Lily."

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

James eyed his yard- it was a sunny day in the middle of summer. "What?"

Lily lifted the package in her hands. "Well, someone named James Potter ordered a Frozen color change LED light alarm clock, so I'd assume that James Potter is a big Frozen fan and would get my reference to 'Do You Wanna Build a Snowman', the second song on the Frozen soundtrack."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." James said, laughing.

"Apparently your friend is a Frozen fan, too." Lily handed him the clipboard.

James looked up as he signed his name. "So, is Lily Evans a Frozen fan?"

"What?"

James offered the clipboard back to her. "Since, you know, you knew the special knock, and what track number that song was, and everything."

"Oh, no." Lily shook her head. "My next-door neighbors have two little girls. I babysit for them sometimes on my day off.

James grinned at the mental picture. "That's kind of adorable."

Lily muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'you're kind of adorable'.

"What?" James asked, grin widening.

"Nothing." Lily turned red again. "Nothing at all."

James held the clipboard above his head. "Tell me or I won't give this back."

"Hey!" Lily reached for it, but James had longer arms. "I have to get to my other deliveries!"

"And yet you stopped to talk to me about Frozen!"

"I'm a very efficient delivery woman, so I can have a bit of a chat." Lily stopped, crossing her arms. "But I still need my clipboard back."

"Fine." said James, handing it back to her. "Here you go. And my package?"

Lily exchanged the clipboard for the package. "There you go, Mr. Potter. Have fun with your alarm clock, you weirdo."

James laughed. "Oh, I will. I've been looking forward to this delivery all week. I can't wait to use it to go out and build an iceman."

"Snowman." Lily corrected him.

"Right, of course." James said. "Since you're the Frozen fan."

Lily rolled her eyes, smiling, and James realized that he liked that smile, very much, almost as much as he liked her hair and eyes and sense of humor. "Whatever. Til next time, James Potter."

"Same to you, Lily Evans." James said. He was still grinning as he closed the door.

* * *

The next time, Lily was already laughing by the time James had the door open.

"Oh, what is it this time?" James groaned.

"He got you a Grow-a-Girlfriend." Lily said. "Must've thought you needed it."

"What the hell?"

"I Googled it when I saw it on the label, actually." Lily chuckled. "It's one of those things you put in water and it expands to six hundred percent. I think your friend's trying to send you a message."

"Asshole." James muttered, taking Lily's clipboard and signing his name violently.

"How is he even paying for this?" Lily asked. "Is he charging it to your credit card? Does he return the gifts somehow?"

James rolled his eyes. "I have no idea. I'm not paying for anything, though. You know, I think I'm gonna have to buy a few things for him. A vibrator, maybe, or some dog costumes."

Lily laughed. "I could help you with that, actually. I've seen a fair few weird packages in my time."

"Really? Let me give you my number, then." James scrawled it below his name on the form. "You can text me whenever you think of anything good."

When he handed it back to Lily, she was smiling. "I hope you know you just defaced an official government document for the purpose of hitting on me."

"Oh, like you're any better." James leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms. "You're wasting precious government time asking if I'm single and hitting on you."

Lily arched an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure, Lily. So 'Sirius thinks you need a girlfriend' wasn't meant as an opening for me to say if I did or not?"

Lily handed him the package, grinning. "You must've misheard me. Gotta go, lots of other cute men to deliver packages to!" She turned away and began walking back to her car.

"For the record," James called, "I am single and I am hitting on you!"

Lily turned back and gave him a smile before climbing into her truck and driving away.

* * *

The next time his doorbell rang, James spent an inordinate amount of time fixing his hair in the mirror before racing to the door. Lily hadn't texted him yet, no, but it had barely been two days. Maybe she'd seen another delivery for him and had decided to wait and see him in person again.

When he opened the door, however, he did not see Lily. Instead, an elderly deliveryman stood there, holding a small package and a clipboard.

"Package?" he said.

James blinked. "Uh...yeah." He took the clipboard and signed it, handing it back. "Where's the usual woman?"

"Who?"

"The woman who usually delivers on this route." James said. "The redhead, Lily Evans-"

"Oh, her." the man said. He shrugged and handed over the package. "Dunno. Here you go, sir."

"Thank you." said James, but the man was already walking off. James looked down at the package. "Oh, shit."

Sirius, for whatever reason, had ordered a necklace. Not just any necklace, but a fancy, heart-shaped one, engraved with the name "Rebecca".

"Shit." James said. Lily had to have seen this and assumed it was for someone else, that's why she hadn't texted, and she'd probably switched routes, too- "Shit, shit, shit!"

And now he had no way to contact her.

Well, almost no way.

* * *

When his doorbell rang next, James nearly tripped over himself in his haste to reach the door. He peered through the peephole and sighed in relief- it was Lily Evans, looking just as gorgeous as first time he'd seen her, and carrying two packages. James pulled open the door immediately.

Lily proffered the packages. "You called?"

"The necklace wasn't me." he burst out.

"What?"

"The necklace." he said. "The 'Rebecca' necklace. It wasn't me, it was Sirius again, don't ask me why, I don't even know any Rebeccas, well, okay, one, but she's my aunt-"

"James, what are you talking about?" Lily asked.

James blinked. "You...didn't see it?"

"No." Lily said. "I don't know anything about any necklace-"

"But you didn't bring it to my door." James said. "Someone else did."

Lily nodded, raising her eyebrows.. "Yes, that's true. I do need sick days occasionally, you know."

"What?" James said. "Oh my God, I thought you were mad at me, but you just were taking a sick day-"

Lily laughed. "Is that why you ordered these? Lily-scented candles and Evans brand shampoo?"

"Yeah, of course." James said. "I was trying to get your attention."

Lily smiled, pulling out her clipboard. "Right."

"Did it work?" James asked, leaning an elbow against the doorframe.

"You know what?" Lily said. "It did, actually." She handed him the clipboard. He was about to sign when he noticed an index card on top of the form with her phone number on it.

James grinned up at her. "You never texted me back."

"Wanted to ask you out in person." Lily said. "And give you my number, too. Do you wanna go get drinks Saturday night?"

"Yeah, I do." said James. He signed the form and handed it back to her. "And maybe watch Frozen afterwards?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Hey, you're the one who legally owns a Frozen color-changing alarm clock-"

"And you're the one who knows the special knock." said James.

"Fine." Lily said, handing him the packages. "Then we're both fans." As she turned to walk away, she waved. "I'll text you later with more details."

James just watched her, grinning with his new shampoo and candles in his arms, thinking that this could be the start of something very beautiful.


End file.
